Content Magician, Freelance web content writers

Google is my favourite search engine and for years, I’ve been using it and then helping my clients optimize their websites for a good Google ranking and then writing articles aimed at Google’s ranking system and attracting their spiders….etc. Hang on, I’m not going into a half-hearted wishy-washy shoe-polishing effort. I think something’s wrong with Google ranking today.

It’s simply not what it used to be.

OK, I am taking this from a writer and also a web surfer’s point of view. You see, being a freelance writer and a mother at the same time, life can get pretty hectic. I find using Yoga (currently into Yin Yoga) for stretching and invigorating my life and work useful, so, I performed a search for that today and the result was far from accurate.

Basically, I was looking for a results page that was filled to the brim with useful information, tips and articles with pictures and useful links, perhaps? Google has become more and more ‘advertisy’…there’s no such word but what the heck. It’s either people are getting smarter in manipulating the results with the words on their pages or Google’s lagging behind.

I don’t know.

Then again, Google’s search algorithm changes all the time…by the minutes and seconds, so, I could be right today and then wrong tomorrow. Well, whatever it is, it’s an observation I thought worth blogging about.

I didn’t take up literature for one very simple reason….I don’t like beating around the bush and I don’t like ‘hinting’ at things whenever I write. I write the way I write in hope that my readers will actually UNDERSTAND the content that I’ve written without having to scroll up and down the page and re-reading the content on the page again and again…and again.

Writing in a clear-cut fashion seems to have been serving me perfectly fine till now because on the Internet, not a whole lot of people like writers who beat around the bush. I don’t know about you but I sure don’t appreciate ’spinning web’ on a web page. Whenever people surf the Internet, they’re often trying to find information…and FAST. When they get to a page with content on it, they usually want to find the content that they’re looking for within the first few seconds.

Which brings me to the point….

Content that confuses the readers don’t sell
Most of the people on the Internet are readers who either looking to sell something or looking to buy something. Now, I am not saying everyone is but most people are. Either that or they’re looking for something really interesting to read. If you’re into literature or stories, the best way for you to find entertaining content is to get into free ebooks. There are some really good entertaining short stories on the Internet, let me tell you that and I DO read some of them but…. (more…)

Even with Copyscape, we would have to admit that it’s hard to put a radar out for every one of the content that you put on your website or article directories. Even Google can only do so much to protect, detect and ban sites that copy your website content. We all know how much time and effort you’ve put into producing top-quality, up-to-date information and articles for your readers….we all know that but do people care?

That’s the thing…they don’t give two hoots how much effort you’ve put into your content. All they know is that they find it incredibly convenient to copy your content and place it into their websites.

The sad part of this is that not only do website owners copy others’ work, freelance content writers do that too. It’s something I call the easy way out because if you’re a writer, you can do the following and get away with most search engines. (more…)

I used to use Facebook a lot to network and connect with others…some are writers like me, some are mothers like me, some are total lunatics who are into vampire bites and throwing slamdunks at people for no apparent reason. But I think I’ve outgrown Facebook. Furthermore, in my personal opinion, facebook is all about helping the advertisers and Facebook itself promote itself. It’s using a spiral marketing tactic that, personally, I find rather offensive and annoying.

And it really does nothing for business folks like us unless we join one of the millions of communities on Facebook, jammed with people. The likelihood of our words read or voice heard is literally close to nil.

But unfortunately, that’s where everyone else is so, I’m still using my Facebook but I have face-ing it out. I’ve just discovered another one, though. We all know what Buzzle is, right? If you don’t, visit it now. I just found out that they have a sister-arm reached out recently called MyBuzzle. I testdrove it around today and found it rather interesting. I don’t know how effective it is for business people like you and me but honestly speaking, I am willing to try anything that could replace Facebook. Darn tired of all those emails and annoying alerts, adverts and reminders, people messaging me from all corners of the earth and friends asking me to feed their pets/furnish their apartments/bite their friends/give them beer/give them hug….etc.

Networking, for me, has taken a more serious tone, so…..

MyBuzzle appears to be still new so, I am not sure how effective it’s going to be for now. But if all the people who are bored of Facebook join MyBuzzle, it should work out handsomely when they migrate, don’t you think?

Amy is eighteen and she has been spending months, five to be precise, practicing this one song that she would be performing for her music school’s concert. She toils over each note, each dynamic, each tone meticulously and to everyone else, she plays the song PERFECTLY. And yet, Amy’s not satisfied with her song. She laments to her mother, “But it’s NOT perfect. There’s something missing about the song”.

Her mother nods her head understandingly, “I don’t know what it is but you’ll figure it out”.

Amy nods away sadly, wondering what to do with her less-than-perfect piece. One day, while she was mindfully playing the piece in her music school’s display unit, which is displayed publicly, an experienced pianist walked up to her.

“That’s a nice song”, she commented. “You played it well”

Amy says, “Thank you. But it’s missing something, don’t you think?”

The pianist nods but smiles kindly, “Yes, it is. It’s missing flavor”.

Then it hit her, Amy’s been playing the song without putting herself into the music. Instead, she’s been putting her whole heart into memorizing the notes and the beat that she’s forgotten about the flavor of the music. (more…)